Silicon Valley's Best Kept Secret for Skilled Immigration

Minn Kim, Lighthouse: Accelerating U.S. Skilled Immigration to Power Technological Progress - Can the U.S. continue to attract & keep the best global talent?

May 03, 2024

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From working in tech and going to a very international university in NYC, like many, I’ve experienced first hand, friends, colleagues, and founders deal with the immense stress and uncertainty of the US skilled immigration lottery. Often times leading talent to leave the country despite their credentials, knowledge, and accretive career paths. These are individuals who come to America to progress GDP, create new businesses, support technological advancements, and further scientific research. They are some of the best and brightest.

With friends from Korea, Japan, China, Hungary, Czech Republic, India, England, Australia and more, these stories are unfortunately very common. Hoping to obtain one of the 85,000 total slots for the H1-B visas (over 780K now apply), highly skilled talent worry about their ability to remain in the US and progress their career paths from university, to filtering out jobs that can sponsor visas, dealing with the scary ‘in-between job problem’ from layoffs, to sometimes even having to consider the very generous marriage route.

This leads Silicon Valley to Minn Kim, Founder of Lighthouse

Minn shares her own experience with U.S. immigration and her mission in founding Lighthouse, an early-stage company offering skilled immigration solutions for technology pioneers. The discussion, highlights the problematic nature of the current U.S. employment-based immigration system, how it really works, what the stats are, and the types of visas are offered. All of which Minn describes as outdated and heavily reliant on a lottery system due to the high demand for a limited number of visas. We go deep.

Resources + Timestamps Below

Lighthouse aims to streamline the complex visa application process for the world's brightest in the startup and tech industries, using software to enhance efficiency and provide a high-quality U.S. immigration experience.

Stats:

50% of the U.S. Fortune 500 companies were built by first or second generation immigrants
83% of computer science PhDs in the U.S. were born abroad
Immigration Act of 1990 established numerical limitations on the H-1B nonimmigrant classification to provide U.S. employers access to foreign skilled workers while ensuring worker protections
The numerical cap of 65,000 H-1B visas was reached for the first time in Fiscal Year (FY) 1997 as demand increased significantly in the technology sector, with 20,000 additional visas available for those who have a master's degree or higher
Since 2021, we’ve gone from about a quarter million H1B registrations to over 750k

The U.S.’s H1-B Lottery System is Failing Us

The U.S. has a visa called H-1B for skilled workers in specialized jobs. But here's the problem: the U.S. government uses a lottery to decide who gets these visas. And despite huge increases in people applying, the number of visas available hasn't gone up — it's been stuck at 85,000 since 2000. So, bottom line: there just aren't enough H-1B visas to go around.

O-1A is seeing increased adoption but there are thousands more each year that are already eligible and don’t yet know it! USCIS source

Approvals have also increased and approval ratings have remained at ~90% for the past 5 years. USCIS source

Types of Visas (Lighthouse also supports)

O-1A: For entrepreneurs, researchers, scientists, and experts in their field.
H1-B: For those with at least a Bachelor’s degree related to a specialty occupation or role.
TN: For Canadian and Mexican citizens in specified speciality occupations.
E-3: For Australian citizens in specified speciality occupations.
EB-1A: Green card path for founders, technical experts, executives with demonstrated expertise in a field.
EB-2 NIW: Green card path for those with advanced degrees or for researchers, entrepreneurs building in the national interest.

Check out Sriram Krishnan GP at a16z’s recent conversation → EP 76: skilled immigration in the US - H1bs, green cards, lotteries and caps and more w/ Deedy Das of Menlo Ventures [X]

Timestamps

(00:00) The Visa Lottery Challenge: A Deep Dive

(01:55) Minn Kim's Journey: From New York to Lighthouse Founder

(05:38) Lighthouse: Revolutionizing Immigration for Tech Talent

(16:53) The O-1 Visa: Silicon Valley's Best Kept Secret

(22:15) Building Lighthouse: A New Approach to Immigration Services

(28:32) The Future of Lighthouse and Immigration Innovation

(34:18) Minn Kim's Personal Reflections and The SF Hype

(40:12) Closing Thoughts: Lighthouse's Goals and Opportunities